as told afterwards.

I began to hope, from the strength the Veddah exhibited, that he was
less injured than we had supposed. On a sudden, with his hand erected,
still pointing to the sky, with the words of the gospel still on his
lips, he fell back, and as his friends stooped down around him, their
cries and tears told us that he was gone.

"Oh," I thought, "who would not wish to die as that man we call a savage
has died! What minister of Christ's holy truth could desire a more
glorious, a nobler end to his labours on earth; standing like a brave
soldier to the last moment at his post? I am sure that young Veddah has
not died in vain. Those he has been addressing have deeply imbibed the
truths of which he has told them. Perhaps in no other way would they
have listened to them."

I was right. The Veddahs soon recovered from their grief, or rather
ceased from exhibiting it, and placing the body on the litter on which
he had been brought to the tent, they carried it to the banyan tree,
where the rest of their tribe, with the horrible devil-dancers, were
still assembled. Mr Fordyce, Nowell, and I followed. They halted with
the bier, and one of them stepping forward, addressed the tribe,
pointing occasionally with great significance at the body. The
countenances of many of them exhibited great astonishment; still more
so, when six of those who had been listening to the dying Veddah's
exhortations stepped forward, and taking the devil-dancers by the
shoulders, marched them away to a distance, first addressing them
vehemently in the hearing of the rest. What they said I do not exactly
know, but I believe it was to point out to them the utter inefficacy,
besides the wickedness and folly, of their incantations.

The custom of the wild Veddahs is to cover up their dead with leaves,
then to desert the spot where they are laid; but we assisted in forming
a deep grave, into which the body of the young Christian Veddah was
lowered, while Mr Fordyce offered up prayers, that those who attended
might all in time come to a perfect knowledge of that truth which had
during the past night been so forcibly explained to them. With much
regret we left those simple-minded savages, to continue our journey. I
trust and believe that the seed sown that night ultimately brought forth
fruits, and that many of the tribe embraced the truths of Christianity.

For the greater part of the year the ground in Ceylon is so hardened by
the su